Decreasing brain activity caused by acute administration of ketamine and alcohol - A randomized, controlled, observer-blinded experimental study.

Ketamine, increasingly used illicitly alongside alcohol, alters brain activity in ways that depend on dose. In late-adolescent male rats, ketamine alone increased delta, theta, beta, and gamma brainwaves, most strongly at 30 mg/kg, while reducing alpha waves. Alcohol alone reduced all brainwaves. Combined, ketamine enhanced alcohol's depressant effect on alpha waves at all doses. A low ketamine dose (10 mg/kg) boosted alcohol's reduction of theta and beta waves, whereas a high dose (30 mg/kg) produced neuronal hyperexcitability, increasing delta, theta, beta, and gamma bandpower. The intermediate dose (20 mg/kg) reversed alcohol-induced reductions in theta and gamma waves.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Substance abuse is a major public health problem. In recent years, ketamine, which is a parenteral anesthetic, has been consumed increasingly as an illicit drug together with alcohol, although little is known of how this association alters brain activity. The present study investigated the influence of progressive doses of ketamine, associated with alcohol, on electrophysiological activity. For this, 72 late-adolescent (8-10-week-old) male Wistar rats received either ketamine only, at low (10 mg/kg), intermediate (20 mg/kg) or high (30 mg/kg) doses via intraperitoneal injection, or alcohol (2 mL/100 g) via oral gavage followed by ketamine (at low, intermediate, and high doses). Electroencephalograms (EEG) and electromyographic recordings were obtained 5 min after the final application of the drug. When administered alone, ketamine resulted in an increase in delta, theta, beta, and gamma brainwaves, with a more pronounced effect being detected at the highest dose (30 mg/kg) in the case of the delta, beta, and gamma waves. The amplitude of the alpha brainwaves was reduced at all doses of ketamine, but less intensively at the highest dose. When administered alone, alcohol reduced all the brainwaves, with the reduction in the alpha waves being exacerbated by ketamine at all doses, and that of the theta and beta waves being boosted at the lowest dose. The intermediate dose of ketamine (20 mg/kg) reverted the alcohol-induced reduction in the theta and gamma waves, whereas the high dose increased delta, theta, beta, and gamma bandpower. Overall, then, while ketamine enhances the depressant effects of alcohol on the alpha brainwave at all doses, a low dose intensified this effect on the theta and beta 175 waves, whereas a high dose produces neuronal hyperexcitability in the theta and 176 gamma bandpower.